Dartmouth College Athletic Department Mission Statement

Dartmouth College and its Athletic Department are committed to providing an extraordinary variety of athletic opportunities that meet the talents, interests and needs of a broad range of individuals. The spectrum of programs and activities available for men and women includes "drop-in" recreation, physical education, intramural and club sports, and broad array of competitive intercollegiate athletic teams. At all times, the department strives to adhere to the basic tenets of the Ivy League as they relate to the representativeness of athletes, financial aid based on need rather than athletic ability, the limitation of sport seasons, and institutional autonomy in managing programs. The purpose of all Athletic Department activities is to foster and compliment the overall academic and intellectual growth of Dartmouth students and provide experiences that will enable them to interact in a special way with other students, test their own personal limits, and gain from the demands and realities of athletic competition and the success and adversity that go with it.

In attempting to work with students to create a safe, healthy, socially stimulating, educational residential community, our goals are to enable the students to be involved wherever possible in the governance and management of their teams and activities, and to make available, as appropriate, to all those who participate advice and information regarding the College's basic principles and expectations.

With respect to affirming and maintaining standards of conduct for responsible student behavior within the College community, our goals throughout the department are to encourage the highest level of deportment and performance not only in athletic endeavors but in all phases of campus life, particularly because many of our participants are very visible representatives of Dartmouth and, in many respects, important role models.

In attempting to do our part in sponsoring a rich variety of opportunities for students to grow intellectually, physically, socially, emotionally and morally, our goals are to make available high quality coaching, support services, scheduling, facilities and equipment; and to encourage excellence and meaningful interaction, no matter what the level of participation. Furthermore, we aim to strive continually to make sure there is equity among the genders in all our programs and reasonable access to our facilities and our activities so that engaging in them is not overly complicated or difficult.

Regarding resources, in order to maintain overall support for our programs, and make sure that our participants are enriched individually and by one another during their recreational and athletic experiences, our goals are to structure a realistic budget and develop appropriate sources of revenue, and to foster effective communication between our coaches and the Admissions Office so that a diverse, talented pool of athletes is identified and favorably acted upon to enable us to achieve the greatest degree of success for our teams and our athletes, thereby bringing pride and positive recognition to the College, the community and Dartmouth graduates. As we work with our athletic prospects and our students encouraging them to exercise self-awareness and make well informed decisions that shape their college years and their subsequent lives, our goals are to have a thoughtful, thorough recruitment approach developed by our coaches and an on-going interaction with student-athletes on the part of the coaches, who so frequently act as mentors on matters beyond athletics, helping them to establish appropriate priorities, manage their time effectively and make difficult choices.

Finally, we feel it is our responsibility to foster, for employees and students alike, an environment that enables continuous learning, professional development, career preparation, the integration of personal and professional commitments, opportunities for advancement, and attainment of maximum performance. Constant attention to the full menu of goals and objectives described above is the only way they can be realized on an on-going basis and insure that the mission of the Athletic Department blends with the overall mission of the Office of the Dean of the College and the purposes of Dartmouth College.